Decorative ponds have become very popular. Such ponds are formed by an excavation and include a body of pond water which fills the excavation and into which a water feature discharges recirculated, filtered and oxygenated water. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,991. This can be accomplished with a waterfall-like construction. A unit known as a Biofalls is frequently used to recirculate pond water, filter the same and discharge the filtered water in a falling or water-fall style back into the pond.
A skimmer assembly as seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,584,991 and 6,054,045 has also been provided to receive water from the pond upon which debris (such as leaves and twigs) may be floating, remove the floating debris from the pond water, provide some filtration and recirculate the received pond water to the water feature. A pump is positioned in the skimmer assembly on the bottom wall for the recirculation.
In general, the skimmer assembly includes a housing or box which is positioned in an excavation, defines an inlet opening that is rectangular and fixed in position with its upper surface spaced slightly above the incoming water so as to provide a space through which floating debris can enter the skimmer housing for subsequent separation and filtration. This space or gap has been on the order of ¾ of an inch. If the space is less, then the floating debris may not enter the skimmer and if the space is greater, then the inlet may be too high and can impact the volume of water flowing into the skimmer assembly.
Proper positioning of the inlet opening has been achieved using a surveyor's transit or other leveling device. If the top of the inlet opening was determined to be too low, the entire skimmer assembly was raised by removal of the skimmer assembly from its excavation, backfilling of the space under the skimmer assembly and repositioning the skimmer assembly in the excavation on the backfilled material so as to achieve the correct spacing. On the other hand, if the top of the inlet opening is too high, (e.g., the bottom of the inlet opening is too low) the skimmer assembly would be removed, the skimmer assembly space re-excavated to lower the skimmer assembly and the skimmer assembly replaced in the excavation at the correct height. This leveling, repositioning and releveling of the skimmer assembly can be a complex and time-consuming operation.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a skimmer assembly which does not require repositioning of the skimmer assembly to properly position the inlet opening.
Moreover, the skimmer assembly usually includes a fixed discharge or overflow where the water level in the skimmer assembly and thus the pond is limited to a particular level, depending upon the position of discharge.
It is also desirable to provide a variable and controllable discharge or overflow mechanism which permits control of the water level in the skimmer assembly.
In addition, skimmers also include a filter mat which filters incoming water which is then delivered to a pump that in turn directs the filtered water to the water feature. The filter is thus positioned between the incoming pond water and the pump. The pump may be positioned either at a horizontal or vertical orientation or may be at some orientation therebetween.
It is another object of this invention to provide a skimmer assembly which can accommodate a filter in a horizontal, vertical or angular position.
These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following description.